Critical thinking, Where is it?

Critical thinking is using your best judgement. What would you do if a patient had problems breathing? Critical thinking would be...give the patient O2, elevate the HOB, etc...

Its just the next big buzz word in academia. Nothing exclusive to nursing like many instructors would like for us to believe. Its simply thinking about a problem and its possible solutions before answering.

My wife is a music major and in her first semester of school she was told that it was imperative that they all learn to think critically if they expected to finish the degree. I wonder how folks had to think before someone came up with this "critical thinking" term? :)

I agree that critical thinking has become a bit of a catch phrase. However, what it means to me in the nursing world, is to be able to think outside the box, synthesize all of your data, and be able to support your hypothesis. It is also being able to explain why you would choose an intervention. For example: when a patient is short of breath, why would you sit them up? Not simply because that is what the textbook says to do, but because. . . ? Also, can you say to yourself, what else do I want to know about this patient?

I wonder how folks had to think before someone came up with this "critical thinking" term? :)

Acceptingly, of course. Can't be critical of those poor little thoughts - you might damage their fragile self-esteem...

Critical thinking, to me, is being able to reason from "first principles" (basic anatomy, pathophysiology, etc) to arrive at a justification for a nursing practice or intervention, and then being able to back your reasoning up with evidence. Basically, it's the ability to think in a clear and logical manner about what you're doing and why you're doing it, and anticipate next steps based on your line of reasoning.